Samsung parodies Apple's iPad Air 'Pencil' ad with new Galaxy Tab Pro spot

The ad, posted to Samsung's YouTube page on Wednesday, opens by slowly zooming on a pencil described as "extremely pointy." The camera then rises to reveal an iPad Air hiding behind the writing instrument as the voiceover expresses mild incredulity at the tablet's discovery.

As the camera moves beyond the iPad, Samsung's latest slate comes into focus. "Ah, the even thinner Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1," the voiceover exclaims before marveling at the Galaxy Tab Pro's profile, which is some eight one-thousandths of an inch more svelte than the iPad.

Other features like the Samsung tablet's 2,560-pixel-by-1,600-pixel screen — "for more robo beatdown action" — and Samsung's proprietary multitasking system are also called out, before the commercial's narrator elects to take both the Galaxy Tab Pro and the pencil.

Samsung's marketing team has made something of a habit out of poking fun at Apple's products, users, and advertising in recent years. A series of ads in 2012 ad took aim at Apple customers waiting in line to purchase the newest iPhone, while a subsequent set in 2013 called into question the iPhone's "cool factor" and its international language support.

Seoul-based Samsung also took a not-insignificant amount of heat for the commercial it used to launch its Galaxy Gear smartwatch last October. The spot was a near shot-for-shot recreation of Apple's original 2007 iPhone ad, even going so far as to use a aimilar clip from animated series The Flintstones.